You made your bed...
Rumsfeld testified before the US Congress today and said that if Iraq were to descend into an all-out civil war, it would be up to the Iraqis to get out of it -- at least initially.
I find that incredibly callous and bordering on the criminal. First of all, the USA is the occupying force in Iraq, both de facto and in some areas of policy de jure. That means that they cannot just take off their hands and look the other way when their control of the situation slips as radically as that.
Secondly, and this really is the thing that gets me, the threat of civil war (if we are not already there) has a lot, if not everything to do with the US presence in Iraq. By removing Saddam's regime, they, as it were, armed the bomb of the ethnic factions in Iraq. If it goes of and Iraq does descend into a civil war, the USA cannot pretend it is not also their fault. It is like saying that since you did not make the bomb, nor placed it where it is, you are completely excempted from all responsibility for the damages an explosion will cause, even though you did remove the safety and armed the detonator.
Perhaps Rumsfeld realizes that the US forces no longer have things under control in Iraq and as a result thinks that they cannot do anything there. But that belies just about every rationalization of the continued presence of US forces in Iraq! It turned out there were not weapons of mass destruction; it turns out that the Iraqi people were not over-joyed to see the US forces arrive; it turns out, in short, that the intelligence leading up to the invasion as well as the contingency planning for what happened afterwards, failed miserably. Since that is the case, the only thing you can do is either (1) stay, make the best of it and try to establish a stable democratic regime. In short, make Iraq a better place than it was before. Or (2) acknowledge you ****ed up, pay damages, and get the hell out of there.
Mr. Rumsfeld should realize that he has made his own bed... whether he like it or not, he should continue to sleep in it.
I find that incredibly callous and bordering on the criminal. First of all, the USA is the occupying force in Iraq, both de facto and in some areas of policy de jure. That means that they cannot just take off their hands and look the other way when their control of the situation slips as radically as that.
Secondly, and this really is the thing that gets me, the threat of civil war (if we are not already there) has a lot, if not everything to do with the US presence in Iraq. By removing Saddam's regime, they, as it were, armed the bomb of the ethnic factions in Iraq. If it goes of and Iraq does descend into a civil war, the USA cannot pretend it is not also their fault. It is like saying that since you did not make the bomb, nor placed it where it is, you are completely excempted from all responsibility for the damages an explosion will cause, even though you did remove the safety and armed the detonator.
Perhaps Rumsfeld realizes that the US forces no longer have things under control in Iraq and as a result thinks that they cannot do anything there. But that belies just about every rationalization of the continued presence of US forces in Iraq! It turned out there were not weapons of mass destruction; it turns out that the Iraqi people were not over-joyed to see the US forces arrive; it turns out, in short, that the intelligence leading up to the invasion as well as the contingency planning for what happened afterwards, failed miserably. Since that is the case, the only thing you can do is either (1) stay, make the best of it and try to establish a stable democratic regime. In short, make Iraq a better place than it was before. Or (2) acknowledge you ****ed up, pay damages, and get the hell out of there.
Mr. Rumsfeld should realize that he has made his own bed... whether he like it or not, he should continue to sleep in it.
posted by Bruno at Friday, March 10, 2006
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